1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention described herein pertain to the field of autonomous vehicles. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, one or more embodiments of the invention enable an autonomous unmanned sailing vessel.
2. Description of the Related Art
The demand for autonomous and unmanned vehicles has increased. Unmanned, autonomous vehicles have been developed with varying degrees of success on different terrain, such as land, surface streets, and even space. However, the development of technologies for unmanned autonomous ocean vehicles has been limited. The Microtransat challenge to be the first fully autonomous boat to cross the Atlantic has yet to be completed. As of filing, the published record distance achieved by an autonomous sailing vessel is a mere 78.9 nautical miles. See Quick, Darren, “Fully autonomous ASV Roboat to make world record attempt,” Gizmag.com, May 15, 2012, Available at http://www.gizmag.com/asv-roboat-fully-autonomous-sailboat-to-make-world-record-attempt/22559/.
Conventional techniques for open ocean research, exploration, monitoring, and other data gathering applications are cost prohibitive. One method is to deploy or charter ships capable of staying out at sea for the duration required. The expense of operating a manned vessel is high, especially if the operation involves an extended duration, distance from land, or potentially rough conditions. Another method is to deploy one or more buoys. However, the complexity and cost of installing a buoy at a deep water location is high. Therefore, the use of buoys is typically restricted to shallow ocean regions. Remote imaging is another method that may be used to observe the ocean. However, only limited data is observable using imaging techniques.
One constraint on the distance any vessel can cover is the availability of power. An ocean vehicle must carry, generate or otherwise harness all the power it consumes during a trip away from land. Another constraint is the ability to navigate rough ocean conditions. This is particularly true for wind powered vessels given the particularly dangerous conditions of the sea surface.
Despite the desirability of an unmanned autonomous sailing vessel capable of long-distance ocean travel for environmental, military, monitoring, scientific, research and other activities, attempts to develop the technology have not been successful. To overcome the problems and limitations described above, there is a need for an autonomous unmanned sailing vessel as described herein.